Porch Light Strut is your first full funk piece: 12 bars in E, built only from moves you already know. The feel is relaxed and bouncy, aiming for 85 bpm.
Form
- Intro (2 bars): E9 hits with space around them, then A and D triad stabs.
- Verse (2 bars, twice): the E9 groove, answered by the triads.
- Break (2 bars, twice): a single-note riff in open position, from E minor pentatonic plus F#.
- Outro (2 bars): the E9 groove, ending on a big E9 with the open low E, held to the end of the bar.
Keep your strumming hand moving down-up on every sixteenth from the first bar to the last, even through the rests and the break: down on the beat and the "&", up on the "e" and the "a". The hand never stops; it only hits or misses the strings.
Fingering
E9 sits in 7th position: middle finger on the A string, index on the D string, ring finger barring the top three strings at fret 7. For the stabs, play A on the top three strings as the 6th fret on the G string with the 5th fret on the B and high e, and D as the 7th fret on the G and B strings with the 5th fret on the high e. Your index barres fret 5. Make the scratches by relaxing the fretting hand on the strings, never by lifting it off. In the break, the x notes are open strings stopped by your fretting fingers lying flat.
Common mistake
Rushing the change from E9 to the triads. Look at the next shape before the bar starts and move during the scratch before the stab.
How to practice
Loop each section on its own from 60 bpm until it is clean at 85. Then chain them in pairs: intro and verse, verse and break, break and outro. Finally, play the whole piece from start to finish without stopping.